Developing a Curriculum Vita

In academia, the Curriculum Vita is the equivalent of a resume that chronicles your entire academic and professional achievements.  There are no limitations on length, and by reading it, one should be able to assess your level of experience.  Someone with a large degree of experience may have a very long C.V. by which every achievement is listed, and the ultimate goal is to continuously build your vita throughout your career.  This begins with your undergraduate experiences and will be revised frequently based on your experience and accomplishments during your professional career.

Information provided on a C.V. includes: 

  • GPA, Honors/Awards
  • Scholarships and Grants
  • Research Assistantships (R.A.), Teaching Assistantships (T.A.), and Field Work Experience (Internships)
  • Poster Presentations and/or Talks at Conferences
  • Memberships to Associations (i.e. APS, APA, etc.)
  • Publications
  • Professional Experiences
  • Other Research Interests

Organize and Develop your C.V.

Landrum (2005) provides the following template for organizing and developing a student’s C.V.:

  1. Personal Information – Include your name in bold, capitalized letters centered at the top of the page.  Beneath should list your address, phone number and email information on separate lines, center spaced.  *Note: This is the only information that should be center-spaced.  The remainder of the C.V. should be right-aligned with the appropriate headings bolded.
  2. Education – List the name of the universities or colleges that you attended.  Below, provide the degrees that you have completed (or anticipate) and state your major (and minor if applicable).  On the following line, give your overall GPA.  Likewise, list your Psychology GPA.
  3. Professional Experience – Under this heading, discuss research experiences, internships and employment that directly relates to your graduate school goals.  Begin by listing the month and year of each opportunity, and in a corresponding column (use tab to align) state the nature of the position held (i.e. R.A., T.A., Internship, Tutor) and the project, class or program where the opportunity was made available to you.  On the next line, list your direct supervisor.  Below this information, provide a short description of the position, and job duties entailed.
  4. Presentations – In APA  format, provide conference presentations or talks for which you are an author on organized by the most current work.
  5. Publications – Under a separate heading, provide any publications you have.  Use APA format using a consistent chronology throughout (i.e. most recent publications first, most recent publications last, or similar construct).
  6. Honors, Awards and Memberships – List any academic honors and awards you have received, scholarships, Dean’s list recognition, followed by membership associations to professional organizations, such as Psi Chi, the American Psychological Association (APA), or any other professional associations to which you belong.
  7. Academic References – Provide the names, job title, department, university, and contact information (mailing address, email, telephone, fax) of professors or other professionals who can attest to your academic abilities. If you are unable to provide three professors for references, it is acceptable to use one reference who is a supervisor in a psychology-related internship or job position.  The remaining two should be faculty members from a university that you have attended.

*Please be sure to first ask permission of any faculty member that you would like to reference. 

For more information and a sample student C.V., please refer to this article:  http://sspa.boisestate.edu/psychology/files/2010/08/Landrum-2005c.pdf